Congratulations!  You have recently witnessed the first ever recycling and composting effort at a Linfield College football game.

In fact, you may want to go grab that water bottle you recycled this past weekend and keep it as a souvenir.

With the recent addition of several recycling and composting bins around campus, we are on our way to a “Zero Waste Linfield.”

On the path to a more sustainable campus, we are in good company when it comes to making large sporting events sustainable.  While this past weekend marked the first recycling and composting effort at a Linfield football game, the Portland Trail Blazers have been doing their part to “go green” for the last three years.

In January of 2010, the Rose Garden Arena became the first professional sports arena in the United States (and in the world) to achieve Leadership in Environmental Energy and Design Gold certification under the United States Green Building Council’s Existing Buildings standard.

“The Portland Trail Blazers are proud to play a role in Portland’s environmental leadership,” said Justin Zeulner, director of sustainability and planning for the Portland Trail Blazers.

Without a doubt, the Portland Trail Blazers are an organization that has shown environmental progress that a college like Linfield can really look up to.

As an organization, the Portland Trail Blazers are efficiently saving more on electricity and water, as well as diverting nearly 80 percent of their waste from the landfill.

With the Riverbend Landfill only a couple miles down the road from Linfield College, it is very important for our college to know where our waste goes and how it affects our community.

It would be awesome to be compared to the Portland Trail Blazers in our sustainability efforts and potentially be a leader  for other Oregon colleges  that are making the transition to sustainability.

Similar to Linfield, the Portland Trail Blazers started with the implementation of advanced recycling and food waste composting operations. From there, they began working on energy efficient projects and implementing environmental purchasing policies.

The sustainable future of Linfield College is bright with great role models in the community like the Portland Trail Blazers.  But role models only get us so far.

We need your help!

Please support this effort by properly utilizing the compost and recycling bins available at football games and around campus. Also, look out for new composting bins in residence halls with Green Chairs.

There are plenty of ways to make a difference. If you are interested in getting involved with sustainable efforts here on campus, check out the Linfield Sustainability website or like our Facebook page.

Keep it susty, Linfield.

Joey Gale / Office of Sustainability

The Office of Sustainability can be reached at [email protected].